Sweet Potato Oven Fries
This recipe makes nice tender baked sweet potato fries with good browning. We grow three types of sweet potatoes most years, Japanese Murasaki with purple skins and white interior, Bonita with white skin and white flesh, and Orleans Orange, the classic deep orange inside and out. You can find them at the farm stores or markets to get a sampler of them to bake up and taste side by side. Oven fries are especially good for making a tasting, as the ingredients are so simple and you can taste each flavor.
Ingredients:
Sweet Potatoes
Olive Oil
Coconut oil (optional)
Salt
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Slice up however many sweet potatoes you want to eat into big chunky fries, all of similar thickness, for even cooking. Toss in a bowl, with enough olive oil to coat, and a little salt.
If you have coconut oil, I like to put a tablespoon or two on a baking sheet and set it in the oven for a minute to melt. Then spread the oil around the pan for a good coating. You could oil the pan with another high heat oil. I think the oil on the bottom gets them to brown better.
Spread the sweet potatoes across the pan so none are piled on top of each other, and each has good contact with the pan. Cover the pan with tin foil. Put in the oven and bake until sweet potatoes are tender, about a 1/2 hr.
Then remove the foil, and put the pan back in the oven to brown. Don’t stir, as this will mess up the browning. Scope the fries out periodically as they bake until you get the level of browning you want.
Serve with ketchup or dipped in a spicy mayo spiked with RFF hot sauce ;).
Oven Roasted Parsnip Fries
One of the most delicious spring things is here! Roots hidden underground all winter gathering sweetness from the frosty cold. We just harvested these and baked the first batch – spring-dug parsnips! Fall and winter parsnips have lots of great flavor for this dish also, though the spring-dug ‘nips are the next level of sweetness. I love to roast them in the oven this way…
Ingredients:
Parsnips – as many as you’d like
Coconut oil (or other higher heat oil)
Salt
Preheat the oven to 400, while you wash and chop the parsnips into fries. Put a couple tablespoons worth of coconut oil on the baking pan and set in the oven to melt a minute. Take pan out and stir the parsnips around in the oil to get some coating, then cover with tin foil to roast for about a half hour until parsnips are very soft to tines of a fork.
Then uncover and roast more until you get that awesome caramelizing of the natural sweetness. Sprinkle with kosher salt or other coarser grind salt, serve hot.
Also excellent dipped in a spicy mayo spiked with RFF hot sauce ;).
Kohlrabi and Potatoes with Sour Cream and Dill
2 tbsp butter
3 cups kohlrabi, peeled and cut into rough chunks
2 potatoes cut into rough chunks
1/4 tsp paprika
1 cup vegetable stock
½ cup sour cream or crème fraîche
1 bunch of fresh dill, roughly chopped
Heat the butter in a pan over a medium heat and add the kohlrabi, paprika, potato and a little salt. Stir, lower the heat, cover and leave for 5 minutes or so.
Add the stock, bring to a gentle simmer and cover again. Cook for 25-30 minutes or until the vegetables are soft enough to cut with a spoon. The stock should have reduced quite a bit by then but don’t worry if it hasn’t.
Raise the heat for about 5 minutes. Stir in the soured cream or crème fraîche and remove from the heat. Add salt as needed, then fold in the dill to serve.
Oven-Roasted Tomatoes
6 medium tomatoes, sliced crosswise 1/2 – to 3/4 inch thick
Olive oil
Salt, pepper and sugar
Heat oven to 300º F. Line two baking sheets with aluminum foil; generously rub with oil. Arrange tomato slices in a single layer on prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and sugar (optional). Roast until the tomatoes shrivel, the edges start to turn brown and most of the liquid around the tomatoes has caramelized, about 1 hour. Roasted tomatoes will keep 4 or 5 days in the refrigerator.
You can also pack oven roasted tomatoes into containers to freeze. They make an awesome addition to anything in the winter.
Eggplant with Ginger and Garlic
1-3 eggplants sliced lengthwise in both directions to make very large match-sticks
1 small head of garlic or 2/3 of a large head
½ inch chunk of fresh ginger
1 small hot pepper
oil for frying
soy sauce
Boil a couple inches of water (enough in your pot to mostly cover the sliced eggplant) with a splash of soy sauce and then add sliced eggplant. Cook until the eggplant becomes somewhat translucent but not fully cooked. In a large cast iron pan, heat enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan (about ¼ cup).
Mince garlic, ginger and hot pepper together and add to hot oil and stir for one minute over medium-high heat. Add parboiled eggplant and turn quickly and often to coat. Add another splash of soy sauce and continue cooking, stirring often until the toughest bits of eggplant have reached the yummy-soft stage.
Serve hot or cold, over rice, on a salad of lettuce or just by itself.
Southern Collard Greens
Here’s a vegetarian recipe for the southern favorite. If you want to go for the real thing, just add a ham hock and reduce your salt and stock.
1 bunch of collard greens
1 onion, diced
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. butter
3 cups vegetable stock
2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
T. red wine or cider vinegar
hot sauce
salt and pepper to taste
Sautee onion in butter and olive oil until translucent. Add stock, balsamic vinegar and chopped collards and simmer for 1 ½ hour-2 hours. Add the rest of the vinegar, hot saßuce, salt and pepper to taste and serve.
Green Beans Braised with Tomatoes and Basil
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 pounds green beans, trimmed
1-2 tomatoes , finely chopped (about 1 cup)
1 cup (packed) fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup water
Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and half the garlic and sauté until onion softens slightly, about 5 minutes. Add green beans, tomatoes, basil leaves, and 1/2 cup water.
Cook until beans are crisp-tender, stirring and tossing occasionally, about 10 minutes. Add the rest of the garlic and season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl and serve.
Garlic and Herb Rataouille
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion (opt.), chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1 small eggplant, cubed
2-3 large tomatoes
3 to 4 small zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch slices
2 Tbs. fresh, chopped basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon thyme
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
In a 4-quart Dutch oven or saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add eggplant and half the garlic; stir until coated with oil. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep vegetables from sticking.
Add tomatoes, zucchini, and herbs; mix well. Cover and cook over low heat about 15 minutes, or until eggplant is tender but not too soft. Add rest of garlic and cook one more minute.
German Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage
1 head red cabbage, shredded
1 cup onion, chopped
1 apple, chopped
¼ cup vinegar
2 cups water
3 Tbs sugar
salt
Salt the shredded cabbage and let sit for a half hour. Add remaining ingredients and simmer covered for one hour until cabbage is tender.
Kale ‘n’ Apples
1 bunch kale, rib removed and chopped
2 tart apples, diced
1/2 onion, diced
2 T olive oil
2 T balsamic vinegar
¼ cup apple cider
2 T lemon juice
¼ cup diced fennel (optional)
In a pot, saute onions and fennel in oil (about 5 minutes). Add kale, apples, lemon juice, and apple cider. Stir and cover until kale begins to wilt (about 3 minutes). Turn off the burner and toss with balsamic vinegar.
